Bits: Good News/Bad News?

Good news first.  Yes?

:: Rocking it old school since our saved-for-long-drives dvd cord died. With a few essentials.

 
1.  Best fall road trip trail mix combo.  2. Community Bible Study goodness and {gourmet?!} gas station coffee.  3.  Lots of books, in hand and on CD {LOVE this old collection!} 4. Not pictured: Doodle books, especially handy when delayed by an awful two-hour wreck on the interstate {by all means, best gotten for about $2 at a local cheap spot}. 

:: All of this leading to, well, a whole lot of beautiful.  And sleeplessness; it was just too hard to call it a night when we knew we only had a few short days together.

Oh, my birthday gift!  Tucked inside that Clabber Girl tin is the most perfect shade of turquoise mason jar.

We miss our old neighborhood, especially in the fall.  Neighbors gathering at our house for chili and trick-or-treating.  The retired folks on our streets with porch lights blazing and doors flung open wide, us making their night for dropping by with our caravan of many littles.  Impromptu and planned outdoor movie nights or weenie roasts or trips to the pumpkin patch.  S'mores and smoke, lots of laughs and conversation framed by the Tennessee leaves.  Our dearest friends hooked a whole bunch of us up with a special night just like these for a "welcome back" visit and between that, and all the other sweet visits we got to make, we are simply filled.

 

Thanks to whoever grabbed our camera for these!

:: Not that it's ever a competition, but you simply cannot outgive or outlove these people.  They welcomed us into their family and I know, being close to my own family and having moved many times without a stitch of family for miles, this is a really big deal.  And we love them so.

Our brothers keep it real, lest we be overcome by girliness in their absence. What funny, I mean convincing, superhero faces.  :)

:: We even got a little gift while visiting as the folks who are buying our beloved Tennessee home postponed their move-in date until next week.  So we got one last chance to walk its floors, relive its memories, and soak up its beauty.  We loved that house; it gave us these friends, and we thought it would be a raise-our-kids kind of home.  That wasn't God's plan, and we see His hand right where we are now but-- words are pretty futile, I think.  We are just glad for the unexpected present we were handed right before we left town.


And the bad news?

Would you keep praying for Maddie Girl?  We are in the middle of another round of specialist appointments and, what feels like, detective work.  Some pieces of the puzzle have been revealed and, honestly, it is nothing short of divine how we have discovered them.  Truly, the hand of God. But there are still things to figure out, and we want to keep hearing clearly the direction in which we should walk.

Right now, downstairs on my kitchen counter reads this note:

I know yesterday was a hard day, but we will get through all this.  God will be faithful to carry us through as He has been in all our trials.  I can't wait to see you tonight.

So bad is an overstatement.  I feel God holding us.  I have my husband's prayers and faith and love.  Anytime your children have problems, it feels bad.  No doubt.  But I know the one who uses ALL things together for good.  I've seen Him do it time and time and time again.

Only can bad=good with the Lord.

Which means, and I'm no mathematician, good=amazing.

Yes, only with God.
~Katrina